Tradition dictates the race leader is not attacked on the final stage so he just needs to cross the line to win.

Three different British riders will hold all three Grand Tour titles after Chris Froome won the Giro d’Italia and Geraint Thomas took the Tour de France.

And Yates’ victory will be the fifth Grand Tour triumph in a row for Britain after Froome also won last year’s Tour and Vuelta.

The 26-year-old Mitchelton-Scott rider came close to winning one of the sport’s three-week races in May when he led the Giro going into stage 19. However, he was undone by Froome’s stunning solo ride as the Team Sky rider won a sixth Grand Tour.

Fears of a repeat at the Vuelta were quickly quashed with Yates riding a more measured race throughout. He took the race lead when he finished ninth on stage nine but was comfortable in losing it on stage 12. He won it back by winning the 14th stage and then successfully defended it through the mountainous finish.

How stage 20 unfolded

Saturday’s stage featured six categorised climbs and more than 4,000m of ascending in a 97.5km race.

Yates was content to sit in the peloton in the early stages as a group of 15 riders broke clear, with Thomas de Gendt the chief aggressor as he picked up points in his successful quest to win the King of the Mountains jersey.

The first significant attacks came on the second ascent of the Coll de Beixalis with Miguel Angel Lopez, who started the day more than two minutes behind Yates, jumping clear.

However, Yates, who was being superbly paced by twin brother and team-mate Adam, refused to chase, preferring to climb at a more steady rate and all the favourites reached the summit together.

Nairo Quintana, the 2016 Vuelta champion, attacked on the descent and was joined by Lopez on the subsequent ascent of Coll de la Comella. However, the Colombians were unable to build a decisive lead and when Simon Yates attacked with 17km remaining, he was able to also drag Mas over to make a leading quartet.

Alejandro Valverde, who won this race in 2009 and was second going into Saturday’s stage, was unable to keep pace and ultimately lost his place on the podium, dropping to fifth overall.

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